Re-purposed Book Chisel Box

We have been expanding our collection of woodworking tools, and needed a way to store chisels. A good storage solution would keep them from banging around in a drawer, thereby keeping them sharp. It should also be easy to store on a shelf, or take for use on a project outside MAKESHOP.

This unassuming book is now the cozy home to six chisels.

For lack of a proper sized box or thin wood to make one, bookboard would do the job well. The chisels were too big to fit in the space of one book, so another was cut a bit shorter to fit beside it. The pages were easily removed, and the cardboard was cut with a utility knife.

Made some frames to contain the chisels, added and joined them with a dovetail. Notice the letter code penciled on the end, this is helpful when assembling similar-looking but slightly different joints.

The box is as long as the longest chisel, approximately 14 inches. The frame sits on top of a this sheet of scrap luaun (a type of wood), which is in turn glued to the book covers. A scrap of 1×2 glued to the bottom has notches cut to fit each chisel. Conveniently, there was a chisel perfectly sized to cut each notch….

Here you can see how they nestle into their new home.

I drilled out the rivets that held a latch on this weird metal purse. The latch will be re-used, to hold the chisel box closed.

A bit of foam was glued on the inside cover to keep the chisels pressed down into the slots. Half of the clasp is also visible.

The latch is riveted on, which was a very fun experience. Here it is, complete.